The Hepatitis A outbreak associated with the Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend frozen berry and pomegranate mix has grown to 106 people, according to the CDC. Forty-seven people have been hospitalized in this outbreak.
Ninety-four people have been interviewed so far. Of those people, 57, or 61% are women. The age range is still from 2 to 87 years. Illness onset dates range from 3/16/2013 – 6/8/2013. Half of the people who are ill have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. Seventy-six of the 94 people interviewed so far ate the recalled Townsend Farms product before becoming ill and all purchased the product at Costco.
The product was recalled on June 3, 2013. People may still have this product in their home freezers. Some retail establishments may still have it too; there were reports over the weekend that a restaurant in Oregon used the recalled product to make smoothies served to customers last week. The FDA stepped in and told the facility about the recall and the potential for Hepatitis A contamination.
Attorney Fred Pritzker and his Bad Bug Law Team have won millions for food poisoning victims and their families in personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits against food processors, retailers and restaurants. They are providing free consultations to hepatitis A victims and their families.
I hope that the culprit can be determined, so we’ll know if it was the berries, or the pomegranate seeds. I have organic frozen berries from other companies in my freezer, and I’m afraid to eat them. There are no seeds in the packages of frozen fruit, but the berries are imported from Argentina and Chile. There are four packages of organic strawberries, and one of organic blueberries. I hate to throw them away, if berries were not the source of contamination, and it turns out to be the seeds.